Dear women: it’s 2017, why are you still bashing other women for traveling solo?

You want to know what really grinds my gears good? When women hate on other women. We already have enough struggles individually, why is there a constant need to tear each other down?

Every time I see a new article titled anything about solo female travel there is always a shit ton of comments from other women hating on them. But why? Is it obnoxious to see women breaking stereotypes and living out their dreams on their own?

Women for whatever reason are competitive in nature with each other, but why? There is enough room in the world for all of us. Life should not be a competition, we should encourage each other — I hope we all make our dreams come true. So why do I find hate comments from other women who are “sick of reading about solo female travelers” or constantly judging everyone for sharing their tips or perspective on travel through their writings? None of us are experts, rather we are sharing our story and experiences through our writing. There are many ways to do any one thing — when we write, it is how we came to be. Not a one view perspective that is the only way to look at things.

Life is a lot of trial and error, and error, and error. If we didn’t share our experiences with you, you would have nothing to complain about or hate on us for. At some level, you must like reading these articles or you would just skip over them… AMIRIGHT??

Every time an article is published about highs and lows of solo travel, there is always a handful of women who nag the author for being privileged, being an arse, not being in touch with reality, being a snob…and the list goes on. Did it ever occur to you that these women have had struggles in their lives? That they have had obstacles to overcome to even be able to write the article at hand?

No one has a perfect life — and that is the fallacy you refuse to accept.

If I write an article about the joys of solo travel, I am a privileged asshole who knows nothing about struggle. If I write about the downfalls of solo travel, I am a privileged asshole who has never had a real problem in her life. Women cannot win with other women.

I recognize that travel is not accessible to everyone and I will not deny that. I know that travel is a privilege. I also know that there are many people who want to travel solo and want to hear from other women about their experiences. We cannot keep justifying the need to quiet these authors just because other people cannot travel. We write to inspire other women to travel NOT to degrade people who can’t. There are articles that many people write about privilege and the ability to travel. There needs to be resources for all people who are looking.

For this year, I strongly encourage you to understand other women, travelers or not — because the constant negativity and desire to tear them down behind a keyboard is not only getting tiring, but it shows a lot about your character.

So while I completely expect a grand backlash for this article, I am not sorry. It had to be said.

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